There may be reasons to expand -- money, exposure, money, prestige, money -- but short of a radical transformation of college football scheduling (i.e., more conference games, fewer games with money-spinning non-conference patsies) the end result is going to be fewer games against the teams that (for the most part) we've been playing against for a century. Fewer games against the teams that we know, against the teams that we love to hate. The overall advantages of adding Nebraska (probably) outweighed the costs (although I'm still bitter about the damage it's wrought on the Iowa-Wisconsin rivalry), but expanding past 12 teams would effectively be splitting the league in two. We'd be two leagues under one roof, with a rich, intertwined, and shared history... but a future that would share little but revenue statements and logos.

I'm done caring about money. No one gets the money. It does not go to players, it mostly comes from fans who are finding out exactly how much they will spend on this stuff, and it's not helping the league in its effort to compete nationally.

Take your annual story about the 26 million dollars that's being distributed, which is up X percent from Y dollars last year, roll it up, and use it to spank yourself. You've been naughty, droid putting out story about X million dollars. None of that money goes to anything other than an ever-expanding cadre of athletic department marketers and facilities for minor sports I'm indifferent to. I don't care if the TV contract is bigger. I do care that they've taken the OSU game and made it a cross-division game because they think maybe they'll get lucky once a decade and get a little more money. Football programs are not publicly traded corporations.

“I think really in about three years you’ll see four super conferences, and I think the Big East will go away and maybe the ACC. But look, I’m just a coach. I don’t know all of it.”

The Big East has essentially already gone away, but I'm not sure how you get to the superconferences in the west. The Pac-12 would need to add Boise State and… then who? It seems like the best shot was annihilating the Big 12, leaving the SEC to pick up some pieces. Now you're talking about truly ludicrous geographic fits or extreme reaches on the part of the Big 12 and Pac-12.

Organizational side note. In the above post, Ross steals a Dawg Sports idea and suggests the Big Ten toss divisions entirely and instead play a schedule featuring three permanent rivalry opponents (Michigan's are MSU, OSU, and Minnesota) and rotate the other five games annually. The obvious problem with that is the NCAA's purposeless regulation dictating that championship games can only occur when your conference has two divisions in which everyone plays a round-robin.

If the Big Ten can work around that, it's interesting. The permanent opponents are not quite equitable—Minnesota's permanent rivals are Wisconsin, Iowa, and Michigan; Northwestern's are Illinois, Indiana, and Purdue—but it would mean Michigan would see the other opponents 5/8ths of the time (3/4ths if there was a ninth game) instead of the current system of playing some of the teams all of the time and others 40% of the time.

@schadjoe LSU AD Joe Alleva said if Alabama wants to play Tennessee every year it could schedule a non-conference game

I wonder if Missouri’s AD still has the same rosy thoughts about how everyone in the SEC operates with the mindset of what’s in the best interest of the league.

I can’t speak for him, but if I still give a shit about college football in five years, I’ll be amazed.

…your choices are not playing the games, not playing the cupcakes, or coming up with a weird dynamic scheduling system. The guys in charge are going with door #1 because their brains are wired to believe they've got a quarterly report due Tuesday.

A year later, Jim Tressel has no ill will toward Ohio State

This is not fluff? I really thought this article on Michigan's drop-in with the Navy SEALs was going to be fluffy fluff fluff but it's actually a detailed look at what went on that is worth a read. Example:

"Are you a better leader today than you were a year ago?" Harden asked.

"I feel like I haven't grown," Robinson said. "For me to be the quarterback at the University of Michigan, I feel like I have to grow up a lot and be a lot more accountable."

Also it seems like Michigan is taking advantage of a soon-to-be-closed loophole here, as Schlabach adds in a sidebar that…

Michigan football officials told ESPN.com that Big Ten Conference compliance officials cleared their football team's recent senior trip to California because it involved leadership and life skills, which is permissible under NCAA rules. The Wolverines paid for the trip through a special fund in the athletics department's operating budget.

…so okay at least some of the money is going towards life skilling the players.

BONUS! The ND series has taken a turn, hasn't it?

Crane, who is from Arizona and served three deployments to Iraq, admitted to the Wolverines that he's a Notre Dame fan.

"Unfortunately, my team is Notre Dame," Crane said. "You guys have hammered them over the years. I'll try not to take it out on you on Friday morning."

should have sent… a poet

You 14-year-olds have no idea how good you have it in re: ND. Not so much with the MSU. There's going to be a point four or five years in the future when the student body has an inexplicably strong hatred of MSU.

Chesson! I'm totally spoiling the surprise on the MGoSleeper of the year by constantly talking about Jehu Chesson, but oh well. Meinke follows up with Chesson in the aftermath of his impressive track performances and gets this quote out of him:

"It could just be a placebo effect, but I feel I can break tackles better because I have a stronger core," he said.

This is an impressive level of introspection from a high school kid, one the other quotes reinforce. Fast, tall, smart, and wears cool shades: good package.

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I've always preferred the attitude of track and field guys/gals. I think there is something to be said to giving an absolute effort in an event, so much so, that when said event is over, you have no energy left to showboat, but just need to catch your breath. Watch a competitive 400 someday and you will see the agony of victory mixed in with the agony of defeat.

I've said this before and I'll say it again. 4 groups of 3 teams; let's call them groups A, B, C, and D. Each team plays the other 2 teams in their group. Each group faces off against two other groups. So A and D play B and C. That's 8 games. Then you take the two best winners of the groups and have them play in the conference championship. You get around the division rule by deciding which groups make up divisions after the regular season. So, if the winners of A and B are to play, then A and C are in one division and B and D are in the other. If A and C are to play, then A and B are in one division and C and D are in the other. If A and D are to play, then either combination works.

What you'd have to do is try to put the best 4 teams in separate groups. For example, the SEC would probably try to put LSU, Bama, and Auburn in separate groups. If Bama and LSU were in separate groups this year, then they could have played in the SEC championship game instead of having the rematch. In 2008, if Texas and Texas Tech were in the same group, TTU would play Oklahoma in the championship. No more 3-way-tie BS unless all 3 teams were in separate groups, in which case you are pretty much screwed seven ways to Sunday no matter how you choose teams for a championship game.

Interesting, but teams in the conference don't want to lose their rivalries. Georgia's biggest rivals are Florida and Auburn. Auburn's are Georgia and Alabama. They all can't be in the same pod. These are MUST games to these schools and fanbases. Skipping them, even if it's only once in awhile isn't going to cut it. Would you want to skip Michigan-Ohio State?

So, add a 9th game and have each team play a specific team in each pod every year. That allows for you to have 5 games that are on your schedule every year. The other 6 can rotate. Play 2 teams at home and 2 teams away each year. So, A hosts B and C hosts A one year. The next year, A hosts C and D hosts A. Then after that, A hosts D and B hosts A. Repeat. You get to play the other 6 teams 2 out of every 3 years.

If someone told me that Michigan would play OSU, MSU, Minnesota, PSU, and Nebraska every year, I'd be ecstatic. That would be based on MSU and Minnesota being in Michigan's Pod and then playing the other 3 big names in the conference. You could have OSU, Michigan, PSU, and Nebraska have a round robin, essentially. Nebraska could have Iowa and Wisconsin in their pod and have big rivalries with both of them. OSU could get Illinois and Purdue, both teams that like to spoil OSU seasons. PSU would then get Indiana and NW. Obviously it needs work, but you could accomodate lots of rivalries that way.

I have a degree in Sociology and I don't care much for Sociology. But yeah, they should still get classrooms.

I also co-sign your comment. When I read, I actually thought he was joking for a minute it was so ridiculous. The non revenue sports are part of what makes M a great athletic school. It's why we'll have Olympians to cheer for this summer. It's why Michael Phelps (and his coach) picked Ann Arbor of all places. It's why a bunch of football fans turn into softball fans for at last a few weeks in May.

That stuff makes me proud. And if we need to renegotiate our football TV deal every year to pay for it, I'm OK with that.

Around the Country, and in the Michigan student, alumni, and faculty community, the same thing could pretty much be said for hockey. Everything not Football and Basketball in college is a minor sport, with some cliques of regional interest. But even those groups are passionate more than large. I gather it'd be a different feeling if it was his minor sport that was being ignored.

Brian's poking fun at the fact that the vest-types don't tend to much for the students' benefit. Therefore, this type of thing, which ostensibly helps the young men develop real leadership skills and character, will soon be outlawed within NCAA rules.

'These uniforms were almost used, but were rejected by the Michigan State coaching staff because, as Head Coach Mark Dantonio said, "82% of our team has never seen the inside of a jail cell, therefore these jerseys represent an unfair stereotype."'

"When reached for comment about the new jerseys, Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio gritted his teeth, glared, and calmly took a nitroglycerin tablet from his shirt pocket. He then swallowed the tablet along with the coal-black rage he felt at this latest and most egregious slight, sending both down to the furnace of hate deep in his soul which drives him in his unrelenting quest for college football dominance no matter the cost."

"This is a program in transition, this is a program that's going back to hard-nosed, big-boy football," Brandon said. "We're in the process of putting the pieces in place to afford us to do that consistently and effectively.

The SEC scheduling model fits what has historically been the way the SEC has scheduled. 6-game schedule as late as the mid-80's. Teams would have historical rivals which they'd meet yearly (or nearly every year) and some they would rarely meet (Ole Miss, Tennessee, Alabama). Florida's rivals were Georgia, Auburn, LSU, and Mississippi State (only one of those teams is in the East.

Because of these rivalries that weren't geographically centered, the conference went to a 5-2-1 scheduling model in 1992 (5 division, 2 permanent cross, and 1 rotation). Florida's permanents were Auburn and LSU. The conference eventually moved to a 5-1-2 system and Florida lost Auburn as a permanent rival.

It isn't perfect, but this new system fits how the SEC has done business for 80 years. Florida misses the Auburn rivalry. Older Gator fans may miss Mississippi State, but they don't miss any other rivalry in the West because they're rarely played anyway.

Wow, I read the LTT tweet responses, and I can't confidently say that Caleb Michael Houser is a bonafide piece of shit. He told a 17 year old kid "you're gonna burn boy" and "(LTT) is a raging homo." as if the latter is cool to say about anybody, regardless of age.

"You 14-year-olds have no idea how good you have it in re: ND. Not so much with the MSU. There's going to be a point four or five years in the future when the student body has an inexplicably strong hatred of MSU."

This. As a 16 year old Michigan hopeful (out of state tuition SUCKS), I can say that I hate Michigan State with a burning passion. Not just because they beat us the past 4 years, but because they DON'T SHUT UP. My memory of Michigan Football is mostly 2008-2011. Sucks right? Before that there are small memories which stick out: Manningham Penn State Extravaganza, Loss to Texas in the Rose Bowl, Capitol One Bowl. However, I can't explicitly remember the last time we beat MSU or OSU. The OSU win the last season was incredible because it was part of that Michigan Tradition which includes that rivalry. I don't hate MSU in the same way (not yet). I hate them because they get a four year win streak, and they act like kings of the world. I don't hate them because they are rivals. I hate them because of their arrogance. It doesn't really matter if we beat them, but losing to them is just plain annoying.

Notre Dame on the other hand has a completely different feel. We've beaten them the past three years, which is alot of my recent memory. They've been down in the dumps for a while, and there was a strong connection between us in 2008 and Notre Dame in recent history. I remember praying that we would not become the Notre Dame of the Big Ten. In a way, I sympathized for them, seeing what they've gone through for several decades. Doesn't mean I don't want to beat them, but I still respect them as a team (even if they are clueless sometimes) and their tradition. I do not feel this respect for MSU.

Obviously these are just feelings based on the past four years, but for a person my age, that's 1/4 of my life right now. I can tell you that I will hate MSU for the rest of my life, which seems to be something older Michigan Fans feel towards ND. It's interesting to see how things are changing.

This is pretty much how my school feels. Hate for Notre Dame among Michigan fans in my school in non existent. Compared to people my Dads age who hate Notre Dame almost as much as OSU. I don't even hate Notre Dame that much.

I am 41. I fit into the group of people who remember the old Notre Dame.

The 1989 "Why U Kick to Rocket???" game was my first weekend on campus. (Young FannMan meet Vodka, Vodak meet young FannMan. BTW - this was not a good idea and you should not do this.)

My Sophmore year was 1990 - a night game at ND. We were wining 24-14 in the third. They won 28 to 24. It was their fourth straight win. I left a frat party because I was so depressed. The party was in my fraternity. I lived at the house. I still left.

ND had beat us the four in a row. And they didn't just beat us - they beat us in painful ways. Each game was full of horrible calls and footballs that bounced to them and away from us. Lou Holtz was terribly annoying and very successful. (Yes, Lou Holtz was not always an semi-coherent old guy on ESPN. He owned us.) After the game, their fans told you that God was on their side. They actualy believed this. After four in a row, I started to think that they were right.

In 1991, I was a junior. I can remember that game better than stuff my wife told me an hour ago. It was third down. We were up 17 to 14. It was the fourth quater. We all knew that if we didn't get the first down, we would kick a FG. We would be up 20 to 14. Notre Dame would go down the field, with the help of a BS pass interference call or something, score a touchdown on third or fourth and long and leave us a minute or less. We would then throw an interception and ND fans would go on about God being on their side.

We didn't get the first down. I was ready for the pain. Then Moeller went for it. Grbac tapped his head and totally overthrew Desmond. Not even close. Desmond ran past a corner back, laid out and caught the damn ball. The stadium was actually quiet for a second. We were in shock - like that moment right after you are almost in a car accident. Then we went nuts. It was sublime. It was two decades ago and I can remember it like yesterday.

This history totally shaped my view of Notre Dame as a boggie man. I think there are lot of us out there like that. (Perhaps group therapy or something?) But those years really shaped our perception of this game.

To you, those games are history - lierally before you were born. I guess it makes sense that you see Notre Dame as waht they have been recently - not very good. You all will just have to understand us old folks and our irrational fears.

“Your satisfaction lies in your illusions/ But your delusions are yours and not mine”

"There's going to be a point four or five years in the future when the student body has an inexplicably strong hatred of MSU." This is very true. Michigan fans in my high school hate MSU way more than OSU. Besides losing to them four years in a row, my school is split about 50-50 between Michigan and MSU fans so they hate getting made fun of by their MSU friends.

is that Northwestern gets a favorable schedule (at least for as long as the current B1G team strengths hold), I don't see a problem. As the only private school in a conference of enormous state universities they're disadvantaged in ways that are probably permanent; if an otherwise satisfying proposal happens to offset that disadvantage a bit, so much the better/